Disambiguating Minting vs. Staking & Happy Diwali to fellow AMPLers!
Mythological Context for AMPL-SPOT on this 1st day of Dhanteras
I’m not religious, but I value Mythology.
We’re not going for the Share of the Market - we are going to become the Market
This kept recurring to me as I explained the differences between minting & staking SPOT to a fellow AMPLer with an original stake as shown below. AMPL & SPOT are Financial Primitives. The World will understand what has been designed only after it is compelled to process the magnitude of its impact - i.e., when “numbah goes up.”
Today is the first day of Diwali, known as Dhanteras. According to Myth, on this day the Physician of the Gods, Dhanvantari, emerged from the great Ocean with the Amrita - the Elixir of Life.
SPOT resembles such an Elixir
Our traditional financial system is predicated on chasing Yield. Why? Because at baseline the Money is subject to perpetual loss of Value resulting from Inflation. The deleterious effects of Inflation remain dormant until the very end of the fiat regime, when it begins to cripple End Users - as it has today.
But what happens when we adopt a Money that does not lose Value?
It is difficult to imagine such a World because it seems rather unthinkable - impossible, even. But this has been designed; this is SPOT. When we consider how financial insecurities/uncertainties can induce psychological anxiety, which can manifest physiologically as chronic stress, elevated HPA axis & glucocorticoid levels, and generalized inflammation - then we can begin to appreciate this mythological framing of SPOT as an Elixir of Life. From the Alchemical perspective, SPOT is the Lapis Philosophorum crafted from the Prima Materia AMPL.
Symbolism of Ampleforth
The Symbol of Ampleforth resembles a Mountain, which is central to the mythologies of various civilizations; e.g., Mount Sinai; Mount Meru. Mountains can occasionally house volcanoes, so it is no co-incidence AMPL made its DeFi debut via Geysers. The peak of the Λ rises above the two bases, and in this way it also exemplifies a transcendent function of BTC & ETH (more on this later). A is for Amrita, and A is for Ambrosia:
Again, we observe mythological convergence upon the Elixir of Life.
Different Paths; Same Destination
While convergence is unmistakeable, the journey is admittedly dissimilar. The Ampleforth team has arrived at this Inflation solution through a “top-down” approach, referring to the system as the “SPOT-AMPL protocol.” In contrast, I was led to conceptualize it by a “bottom-up” approach to the “AMPL-SPOT protocol.” Until recently, I could not make sense of this difference:
“You see…if you get into the Hindu mentality, you are just upside-down, you are all wrong. They have the unconscious above, we have it below. Everything is just the opposite.” - C.G. Jung; Lecture I; Psychology of Kundalini Yoga
And then it falls into place. Hinduism is a Philosophy. Another way of thinking.
In these lectures, Jung unpacks the Symbolism of Chakras - which, unbeknownst to me until recently, also maps on to the Elements. We can explore how AMPL maps on to Fire and SPOT onto Aether in the future, so that we can make these concepts widely relatable. For now, I refer the reader to Elemental Model of the World.
It is also no co-incidence that Ethereum maps on to Digital Elemental Water, for that is where the Elixir emerges from - the great Ocean. AMPL & SPOT would not have been possible without Smart Contracts, Liquidity Pools, and the Medium of Exchange properties exhibited by ETH.
“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of humankind is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.” - C.G. Jung; Memories, Dreams, Reflections; p. 326
Happy Diwali!